making Bacon

making Bacon

Nah............not THAT kind!.and not actually Bacon. With bacon prices getting higher, and my heart not getting any younger, I decided on a test. My local market runs boneless country style ribs on sale a lot, I wait until they get a further mark-down and then pick out a few and pop them in my freezer. Usually,l they are a little fattier than the normal ribs, which most folks don't want, but they work well for my little experiment.

I don't keep them in the Freezer longer than 4 mos. When I build up 3-5 lbs worth, I bring them out, let them sit in a 38 degree refrig for a day, then begin a cure using the recipe found online for making bacon at home. They get cured for about 5 days, then they can be smoked, or as you see here thrown into a 190 degree oven for a cple of hours. Here you see three pieces about to go into the oven.a little over 4lbs

When done, the pieces go back in the freezer sometimes sliced in half, and I take out a small amount at a time to use in 3-4 days. Again, it defrosts overnight in the fridge before slicing.

Here's one ready to cut

Sliced and ready for the pan.......I like my bacon thick and lean

Finished product

The only thing is you can't get extra crispy like this because it will tend to dry the meat out and become sort of a pork jerky. But you get all that bacony flavor (and yes, the nitrates or nitrites) but not a lot of fat. in fact, it can help to hit the pan with a quick squirt of PAM

Sorry about the photo size....been a while since I"ve uploaded photos here

Yeah.it was end July and i was too lazy to set up the smoker...but with apple or cherry wood on the smoke it would give a further lovely complexity

Just.as with all this stuff.be careful of the contamination factor. I use cure from the Sausagemaker in the recipe, Stuff goes immediately from store to freezer....from freezer to fridge.and then back to freezer! I couldn't do this commercially without a huge line of FDA and DEA and OSHA and WTFAYD agents at the door. But Damn..it tastes Good

Thanks for the photos. You reminded me that I was going to try making Buckboard bacon myself. Anyway there are a number of recipes on the net. The bacon can be dry cured, wet cured, or quick cured by injection then smoked a few hours to 120-130 degree. Don't trim off the fat if you want more of a bacon flavor. Otherwise lean trimmed meat will be more like Canadian Bacon. Fatter pieces of pork butt would be a good choice for making buckboard bacon. Add a weight while curing will flatten the piece so it will be more like bacon strips when sliced.